Detailed evidence has emerged of Israel�s extensive use of US-made weaponry during its war in Gaza last month, including white phosphorus artillery shells, 500 pound bombs and Hellfire missiles. In a report released today, Amnesty International detailed the weapons used and called for an immediate arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. It called on the Obama administration to suspend military aid to Israel.
Stalin-Era Famine That Killed Millions Was Not Genocide, Says Russia
The Associated Press

Russia issued a DVD and a thick book of historical documents on Wednesday to dispute claims that the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s amounted to genocide. Russian archivists and historians pressed the Kremlin's case that the Stalin-era famine � which killed millions of people � was a common tragedy across Soviet farmlands, countering efforts by Ukraine's pro-Western president to convince the world that Ukrainians were targeted for starvation. "Not a single document exists that even indirectly shows that the strategy and tactics chosen for Ukraine differed from those applied to other regions, not to mention tactics or strategy with the aim of genocide," said Vladimir Kozlov �
Bishop Williamson Issues Apology for Holocaust Remarks
Reuters

A Roman Catholic bishop who caused an uproar by denying the scale of the Holocaust has apologized for his views in statements carried on a Catholic news agency website on Thursday. Bishop Richard Williamson caused outrage by saying there were no gas chambers in the Nazi concentration camps and that no more than 300,000 Jews died in the Holocaust, rather than the widely accepted figure of six million. "I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks ��
Jews Praise Argentina's Expulsion of `Denier� Bishop
The Associated Press

The traditionalist bishop whose denials of the Holocaust embarrassed the Vatican and caused an international uproar was ordered Thursday to leave Argentina within ten days. The Interior Ministry said it had ordered the bishop, Richard Williamson, out of Argentina because he had failed to declare his true job as director of a seminary on immigration forms, and because his comments on the Holocaust "profoundly insult Argentine society, the Jewish community and all of humanity by denying a historic truth." �. World Jewish leaders on Friday praised the decision to order the expulsion, with one group calling on other governments to follow Argentina's lead, and crack down on anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in their countries.
In Germany, Horst Mahler Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for `Holocaust Denial�
The Associated Press

A founding member of a left-wing terrorist group turned neo-Nazi was convicted Wednesday in Munich of Holocaust denial and sentenced to six years in prison after a judge accused him of using the courtroom to spread his message of hate. Horst Mahler, a founder of the Red Army Faction in 1970, was convicted of incitement for posting videos denying the Holocaust on the Internet and distributing CDs promoting anti-Jewish hatred and violence. Denial of the Nazi Holocaust is a crime in Germany.
Alleged Camp Guard Demjanjuk Will Be Tried, Says German Prosecutor
Reuters

A German prosecutor rejected criticism on Wednesday that suspected Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk is not being brought to trial fast enough before the 88-year-old dies. Munich state prosecutor Anton Winkler said his office has been examining evidence against Demjanjuk since December 30 and hopes to have him extradited from the United States for a trial in Germany as soon as possible -- possibly in the next month.
Zionist Nationalist Myth of Enforced Exile
Schlomo Sand

� During the 1980s an earthquake shook these founding myths. The discoveries made by the �new archaeology� discredited a great exodus in the 13th century BC. Moses could not have led the Hebrews out of Egypt into the Promised Land, for the good reason that the latter was Egyptian territory at the time. And there is no trace of either a slave revolt against the pharaonic empire or of a sudden conquest of Canaan by outsiders. Nor is there any trace or memory of the magnificent kingdom of David and Solomon.
America Must Stop Underwriting Israeli Aggression
Harald Frederiksen � The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon)

� Forty-five years of history records the unflinching support of the United States for Israel's goals and its ruthless means to attain them. First, there is the military support. The United States provides the fighter planes, bombers, helicopters, ground vehicles, technology and munitions - including cluster, phosphorus and blockbuster bombs � Israel ignores more than 100 U.N. resolutions, including resolutions demanding that it return to the original U.N. borders of 1947 and later the 1967 borders. Yet it took only three violations by Iraq for the United States to attack this longtime opponent of Israel's behavior.
Weber to Discuss the Bishop Williamson Furor on the Rense Show
The Jeff Rense Program

Mark Weber is set to appear on Tuesday evening, Feb. 24, with radio show host Jeff Rense to talk about Bishop Williamson and his controversial remarks on �the Holocaust,� and what this affair means for Americans, Christians and the world. Weber will be on from 8 to 9 p.m., Pacific coast time, or 11:00 p.m to midnight, East coast time. The IHR director will explain how the uproar over Bishop Williamson�s much-criticized remarks is not about truth or �hate,� but about Jewish-Zionist power. Weber will also show how this affair underscores a grave and perhaps fatal weakness of modern Christianity.
How Lebanon�s Central Bank Got It Right
Los Angeles Times

� The silver-haired banker became a hero by playing it very, very safe. In 2005, he defied pressure from the Lebanese business community and bucked international trends to issue what now looks like a prophetic decree: a blanket order barring any bank in his country from investing in mortgage-backed securities, which contributed to the most dramatic collapse of financial institutions since the Great Depression. So as major banks in America and Europe were shuttered or partly nationalized and thousands of people in the U.S. financial sector were laid off, Lebanon's banks had one of their best years ever.
`Germany Must Perish�
Theodore Kaufman (1941)

Theodore N. Kaufman, the author of Germany Must Perish, was a Manhattan-born Jewish businessman who was also chairman of a group that called itself the "American Federation for Peace." � Kaufman's fervent proposal for the systematic sterilization of the entire German population was given respectful attention in the American press, including reviews in a number of newspapers. A review in the weekly Time magazine, March 24, 1941, called Kaufman's plan a "sensational idea." � A plan similar to Kaufman's was issued during the war years by a prominent American anthropologist. In an article headlined "Breed War Strain Out of Germans" in the New York daily newspaper P.M.
Britons Flee Island of Guadeloupe As Rioters Turn on Whites
Daily Mail (Britain)

Britons are among thousands of tourists fleeing Guadeloupe after full scale urban warfare erupted on the French Caribbean island. Trouble broke out on the island earlier last month after protesters began rioting over high prices and low wages. But the situation escalated this week after protesters began turning on rich white families as they demanded an end to colonial control of the economy. The troubles come at the height of the holiday season, with thousands of mainly British, French and American tourists on the paradise tropical island. Protesters were now targeting 'all white people', with the media in mainland France describing the situation as virtual civil war'.
Argentina Expels `Holocaust Denier� Bishop
BBC News

Argentina has ordered an ultra-traditionalist British bishop who denies the Holocaust to leave the country or face expulsion. The interior ministry said Richard Williamson had been given ten days to leave Argentina. Earlier this month the bishop was removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina. A row erupted in January after the Pope decided to lift Bishop Williamson's excommunication on an unrelated matter � Bishop Williamson's views on the Holocaust have provoked outrage. "I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against, is hugely against, six million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler," he said in a recent interview for Swedish TV.
Israel Launches Covert War Against Iran
The Telegraph (Britain)

Israel has launched a covert war against Iran as an alternative to direct military strikes against Tehran's nuclear programme, US intelligence sources have revealed. / It is using hitmen, sabotage, front companies and double agents to disrupt the regime's illicit weapons project, the experts say. The most dramatic element of the "decapitation" program is the planned assassination of top figures involved in Iran's atomic operations.
It�s Time to Rethink Zionism
Daphna Baram -- The Guardian (Britain)

The results of last week's parliamentary elections in Israel brought to the surface some of the most rotten fruits of a debate that has been going on throughout the state's existence: the idea that a mono-ethnic Jewish state is feasible, legitimate and desirable. In other words, it enhanced the predicament of the moral and practical consequences of the Zionist state ideology. In 1948, during its war of coming-to-be, Israel had driven out of its territory 750,000 Palestinians; another 250,000 were pushed out during the 1967 war. Ever since then, the Israeli left-right division has been marked by the desire for territorial expansion, promoted by the right, and the aspiration for ethnic purity, propagated, curiously, by the Zionist "left".
Principals Doubtful of Meeting Federal Education Standards
Minnesota Public Radio

A new survey of more than 700 principals in Minnesota finds nearly all of them are doubtful about meeting federal No Child Left Behind standards by 2014. The group Minnesota 2020 asked the state's 1,600 school principals to fill out an online survey. More than 700 did and the results of one question particularly stand out. When asked whether they think all schools will meet the federal standards by 2014, 97 percent said No. Another large majority also said they have already diverted core classroom spending on test preparation costs.
When Israel Acts, Congress Applauds. No Debate Required
Glen Greenwald -- The American Conservative

In most of the world, the Israeli attack on Gaza is viewed as an intensely controversial act and, more commonly, an excessive, unjustifiable, and brutal assault on a trapped civilian population. But not in the United States � at least not among America�s political and opinion-making elite. Here one finds a bipartisan consensus as simplistic as it is unique as it is unquestioned: Israel�s bombing campaign and invasion of Gaza are right and just, and it is the duty of the U.S. to support these actions unequivocally.
Lies of a Holocaust Survivor: `In My Imagination�
ABC News

In this ABC News interview, Herman Rosenblatt explains why he lied about his experiences as a concentration camp inmate during World War II.
Californian Dream Turns Into Nightmare
The Financial Times (Britain)

In Contra Costa County, a few miles from San Francisco and the millionaires of Silicon Valley, widespread poverty has returned to California. Buffeted by a housing collapse and a slumping economy, the county of one million is struggling to cope with a sharp rise in the number of residents seeking welfare assistance. Applications for food stamps � vouchers for low-income earners that can be used to buy food � have risen 65 percent in the county in the past year � The state has slashed funding for social programs and postponed thousands of infrastructure projects � such as school, hospital or highway developments � worth more than $21 billion.
Russians Warn of Afghan War Parallels
BBC News

As Russia marks the 20th anniversary of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, officials in Moscow are warning that US and Nato-led forces are making exactly the same mistakes as the Soviet Union made when it invaded the country in 1979 � But instead of being able to leave within six months, the Soviet forces became bogged down in a protracted conflict with a tough and well-armed guerrilla force which received massive assistance from the West and the Muslim world.
Norway Marks Birthday of Knut Hamsun, Controversial Pro-Hitler Writer
ABC (Australia)

Norwegian Nobel literature laureate Knut Hamsun, who fell from grace after World War II for his Nazi sympathies, is gingerly moving center stage as Norway celebrates his authorship. But his past continues to taint his legacy � "Before speaking out about the Hamsun jubilee, one should read the obituary the poet wrote for Hitler," Mr Homlung wrote in an opinion piece titled Celebrating a Nazi. Mr Hamsun did indeed describe [Hitler], perhaps the world�s most hated man, as "a warrior, a warrior for mankind, and a prophet of the gospel of justice for all nations".
A 'Fraud' Bigger Than Madoff: Senior US Soldiers Under Investigation
The Independent (Britain)

The exact sum missing may never be clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50 billion, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme. "I believe the real looting of Iraq after the invasion was by US officials and contractors, and not by people from the slums of Baghdad," said one US businessman active in Iraq since 2003. In one case, auditors working for SIGIR discovered that $57.8 million was sent in "pallet upon pallet of hundred-dollar bills" to the US comptroller for south-central Iraq, Robert J Stein Jr, who had himself photographed standing with the mound of money.
What Does Holocaust Denial Really Mean?
Prof. Daniel McGowan

In April 2007 the European Union agreed to set jail sentences up to three years for those who deny or trivialize the Holocaust � But what does Holocaust denial really mean? �. The Holocaust narrative of systematic, industrialized extermination was an important neo-conservative tool to drive the United States into Iraq. The same neo-con ideologues, like Norman Podoretz, routinely compare Ahmadinejad to Hitler and Nazism with Islamofascism with the intent of driving us into Iran. The title of the recent Israeli conference at Yad Vashem made this crystal clear: �Holocaust Denial: Paving the Way to Genocide.�
US Is a `Nation of Cowards� About Race, Says Attorney General
The Associated Press

Eric Holder, the nation's first black attorney general, said Wednesday the United States was "a nation of cowards" on matters of race, with most Americans avoiding candid discussions of racial issues. In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.
Talking with Jews (Or Not)
Kevin MacDonald

A topic that is not discussed enough is the screaming, in-your-face, hostile aggression that people must withstand when they dare to trample on Jewish sensibilities � The gloves are coming off. This is what happens when smart and honest people who work hard to get the scholarship right are nevertheless smeared as anti-Semites guilty of the vilest misdeeds. Not surprisingly, Abe Foxman � a premier defender of the racial Zionist status quo in Israel � devoted an entire book to smearing Mearsheimer and Walt. Quite simply, there is no point to talking to such people or taking seriously what they say about us.
Is Eastern Europe About to Explode?
Mike Whitney

Eastern Europe is about to blow. If it does, it could take much of the European Union with it. It's an emergency situation but there are no easy solutions � The global economy is decelerating at the fastest pace on record. 40 percent of global wealth has been wiped out. The banking system is insolvent, unemployment is soaring, tax revenues are falling, the markets are in shock, housing is crashing, deficits are soaring, and consumer confidence is at its lowest point in history. This is no time to cling to half-baked ideology. The global economy is undergoing a massive system-wide contraction which could spin out of control and plunge us into another world war.
Campaign Threatens Winslet's Oscar Chances for `Reader� Role
The Telegraph (Britain)

Kate Winslet's chances of success at the Oscars are being undermined by an orchestrated campaign to dismiss her film The Reader as an apologia for Nazi Germany. Ron Rosenbaum, the author of the critically acclaimed book Explaining Hitler, said last week that the movie was inaccurate and "the worst Holocaust film ever made". He called on Oscar judges to shun it. His views were supported by Mark Weitzman, the New York head of the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre, who said The Reader was one of a series of recent Hollywood films that were guilty of "Holocaust revisionism".
Thousands Mark Dresden Bombing Anniversary
The Independent (Britain)

Thousands of neo-Nazis hijacked official ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden yesterday in the biggest demonstration by the German far right since the Second World War. More than 5,000 neo-Nazis overran the east German city with a mass protest against "Anglo-American bomb terror".
Former Gitmo Guard Tells All
Scott Horton -- Harper�s

� He details their sexual abuse by medical personnel, torture by other medical personnel, brutal beatings out of frustration, fear, and retribution, the first hunger strike and its causes, torturous shackling, positional torture, interference with religious practices and beliefs, verbal abuse, restriction of recreation, the behavior of mentally ill detainees, an isolation regime that was put in place for child-detainees � Neely�s account demonstrates once more how much the Bush team kept secret and how little we still know about their comprehensive program of official cruelty and torture.
In Britain, Students Angered by Gaza Revive Sit-Ins
The Guardian (Britain)

A new wave of student activism sparked by events in Gaza has seen dozens of university buildings occupied in Britain, with some of the UK's top educational establishments agreeing to set up scholarships for Palestinians or disinvest in arms companies linked to Israel. Though the assault on the territory ended three weeks ago, lingering anger over the attack has prompted students to stage sit-ins at 21 universities, many organised via blogs, Facebook and text messages. Students at Glasgow and Manchester are refusing to leave the buildings until their demands are met, after similar occupations at other universities provided tangible results in what is being seen as a new era of highly organised student activism.
Jesse Owens: Myth and Reality
Mark Weber

Jesse Owens, the Black track and field star who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, died in 1980 at the age of 66. As so often during his lifetime, even this occasion was used by the major television networks and print media to spread slanderous falsehoods which have acquired wide acceptance through repetition over the years � The myths, which are usually asserted as fact, contend that German Chancellor Adolf Hitler was furious when Owens won; that Hitler refused to shake hands with Owens because he was Black; that the Germans were embarrassed because the Owens victory "disproved" German ideas about racial differences �
French Holocaust Role Recognized by High Court
BBC News

France's highest court has recognised the state's "responsibility" for the deportation of Jews in World War II. The Council of State said the state had permitted or facilitated deportations that led to anti-Semitic persecution without being coerced by the occupiers. But the council also found reparations had since been made "as much as was possible, for all the losses suffered". Correspondents say the ruling is the clearest such recognition of the French state's role in the Holocaust. Between 1942 and 1944 some 76,000 Jews were deported from France by the Vichy government in collaboration with the German occupying army.
It's Not Going to Be OK
Chris Hedges -- Truthdig

The daily bleeding of thousands of jobs will soon turn our economic crisis into a political crisis. The street protests, strikes and riots that have rattled France, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Iceland will descend on us. It is only a matter of time. And not much time. When things start to go sour, when Barack Obama is exposed as a mortal waving a sword at a tidal wave, the United States could plunge into a long period of precarious social instability. At no period in American history has our democracy been in such peril or has the possibility of totalitarianism been as real. Our way of life is over.
U.S. Jewish Leader Sees `Pandemic of Anti-Semitism�
Reuters

Israel's recent war in Gaza has unleashed the worst outbreaks of anti-Semitism in decades, the U.S. head of the Anti-Defamation League said on Friday. "This is the worst, the most intense, the most global that it's been in most of our memories. And the effort to get the good people to stand up is not easy," Abraham Foxman told Jewish community leaders in a speech in this south Florida resort city. Foxman said Israel's military offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which began in the Gaza Strip in late December, had been answered with hatred and attacks against Jews "from Austria to Zimbabwe." Most governments were doing too little to stem "an epidemic, a pandemic of anti-Semitism," he said.
College in Massachusetts is First in US to Divest Over Israeli Policies
Global BDS Movement

Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., has become the first of any college or university in the U.S. to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign by the campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group pressured Hampshire College's Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. Over 800 students, professors, and alumni have signed SJP's "institutional statement" calling for the divestment.
New Polish Movie About Katyn Massacre

Trailer of the new Polish film, �Katyn� With English subtitles. Runtime: 2:31 mins. An acclaimed motion picture about the 1940 mass killing by Soviet authorities of 15,000 Polish officers who were being held as prisoners of war. A mass grave of one-third of the victims was discovered in 1943 at Katyn, near Smolensk.
Christian Support for Killing Iraqis
Jacob G. Hornberger

Among the things about the Iraq War that I have never been able to understand is how American Christians have been able, in good conscience, to support this war. After all, no one can deny that neither Iraq nor the Iraqi people ever attacked the United States. That makes the United States the aggressor � the attacker � in this particular conflict. How could American Christians support the killing of Iraqis in such a war of aggression? How could they reconcile this with God�s sacred commandment, Thou shalt not murder.
Population: The Elephant in the Room
John Feeney � BBC News

Uncontrolled population growth threatens to undermine efforts to save the planet / It's the great taboo of environmentalism: the size and growth of the human population. It has a profound impact on all life on Earth, yet for decades it has been conspicuously absent from public debate. Most natural scientists agree our growing numbers and our unchecked impact on the natural environment move us inexorably toward global calamities of unthinkable severity. They agree the need to address population has become desperate. Yet many environmentalists avoid the subject, a few objecting strongly to any focus on our numbers.
Choosing Prison Rather than Service in the Israeli Army
Radio Netherlands

Omer Goldman is 19, she's Jewish, lives in Tel Aviv, she's a pretty girl and it's not hard to imagine her fulfilling her ambition to one day be an actress. But since she was eight years old, she also had another dream - she wanted to work with an organization like Amnesty International, hoping she could help make a better world. Right now, her way of doing that is by going to prison. Choosing to go to prison rather than serve in the Israeli army - a compulsory requirement for all young Israeli citizens.
Pope Calls Any Denial of Holocaust `Intolerable�
The New York Times

Pope Benedict XVI, meeting with Jews in an effort to mend fences after lifting the excommunication of a schismatic bishop who has publicly denied the scale of the Holocaust, said Thursday that the Roman Catholic Church was �profoundly and irrevocably committed� to rejecting anti-Semitism. He also condemned Holocaust denial as �intolerable and altogether unacceptable,� and said it should �be clear to everyone,� especially to clergy members, that the Holocaust was �a crime against God and humanity.�
The Blood of Dresden
Kurt Vonnegut

� In February 1945, American bombers reduced this treasure to crushed stone and embers; disembowelled her with high explosives and cremated her with incendiaries � It is with some regret that I here besmirch the nobility of our airmen, but, boys, you killed an appalling lot of women and children. The shelter I have described and innumerable others like it were filled with them. We had to exhume their bodies and carry them to mass funeral pyres in the parks, so I know � The �Get Tough America� policy, the spirit of revenge, the approbation of all destruction and killing, have earned us a name for obscene brutality.
Apocalypse at Dresden
R. H. S. Crossman -- Esquire magazine (1963)

The long suppressed story of the worst massacre in the history of the world [the Feb. 1945 destruction of Dresden] / If the British Commonwealth and the United States last a thousand years, men may say that this was their darkest hour. Were all the crimes against humanity committed during World War II the work of Hitler's underlings? That was certainly the impression created by the fact that only Germans were brought to trial at Nuremburg � What is less widely recognized � is that the Western democracies were responsible for the most senseless single act of mass murder committed in the whole course of World War II.
Abraham Lincoln and the Issue of Race
Robert Morgan � Institute for Historical Review

Many Americans think of Abraham Lincoln, above all, as the president who freed the slaves. Immortalized as the "Great Emancipator," he is widely regarded as a champion of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War to free the slaves. While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it also true that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him, that blacks could not be assimilated into white society. He rejected the notion of social equality of the races, and held to the view that blacks should be resettled abroad.
New Book Challenges Israel�s Holocaust `Obsession�
Forward (New York)

Avraham Burg�s new book, �The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes,� is maddening: It is by turns incisive and hard-hitting, but also bombastic, vague and repetitious. It is also extremely important. Burg�s basic argument is simple: For too long, Israel has had an unhealthy obsession with the Shoah, leading the country to use the Shoah as a justification for mistrusting the rest of the world and for continuing to dispossess the Palestinians. What makes the book significant is its author�s Zionist credentials.
The Holocaust and the Myth of the Past as History
Howard F. Stein

For the Jews, the term "Holocaust" does not simply denote a single catastrophic era in history, but is a grim metaphor for the meaning of Jewish history. The "Holocaust" lies at the heart of the Jewish experience of time itself. One is either anxiously awaiting persecution, experiencing persecution, recovering from it, or living in a period that is a temporary reprieve from it. � Thus the "reality" of the Holocaust is inextricably part of the myth in which it is woven -- and for which myth it serves as further confirmatory evidence for the timeless Jewish theme that the world is in conspiracy to annihilate them, one way or another, at least eventually.
Anti-Jewish Sentiment Growing In Europe, New ADL Survey Finds
Haaretz (Israel)

A recent survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League found that anti-Semitic attitudes in seven European countries have worsened due to the global financial crisis and Israel's military actions against the Palestinians. Some 31 percent of adults polled blame Jews in the financial industry for the economic meltdown, while 58 percent of respondents admitted that their opinion of Jews has worsened due to their criticism of Israel � According to the survey, 40 percent of polled Europeans believe that Jews have an over-abundance of power in the business world.
Controversial Bestseller Shakes Israel State�s Foundation
Joshua Holland -- AlterNet

What if the Palestinian Arabs who have lived for decades under the heel of the modern Israeli state are in fact descended from the very same "children of Israel" described in the Old Testament? And what if most modern Israelis aren't descended from the ancient Israelites at all, but are actually a mix of Europeans, North Africans and others who didn't "return" to the scrap of land we now call Israel and establish a new state following the attempt to exterminate them during World War II, but came in and forcefully displaced people whose ancestors had lived there for millennia? � That's the explosive thesis of When and How Was the Jewish People Invented?, a book by Tel Aviv University scholar Shlomo Zand (or Sand) �
The Organized Jewish Community Opposes Free Speech, Says Professor
Kevin MacDonald

It is something of an axiom of Jewish life that �Is it good for the Jews?� remains the litmus test of Jewish communal activity � in other words, interest over principles. A good example is free speech. There can be little doubt that the organized Jewish community sees free speech as a problem because it may be used to criticize the behavior of Jewish organizations and especially Israel.
Interview With Bishop Williamson: `I Will Not Travel to Auschwitz'
Der Spiegel (Germany)

Throughout my life, I have always sought the truth. That is why I converted to Catholicism and became a priest. And now I can only say something, the truth of which I am convinced. Because I realize that there are many honest and intelligent people who think differently, I must now review the historical evidence once again. I said the same thing in my interview with Swedish television: Historical evidence is at issue, not emotions. And if I find this evidence, I will correct myself. But that will take time � A single interview on Swedish television has dominated the news for weeks in Germany. Yes, it does surprise me.
Gaza Medics Cope With Israel�s Assault
France 24 television (France)

Graphic French television report by a Palestinian journalist who follows a team of Palestinian medics during the Israeli assault on Gaza. Runtime: 15:26 mins.
Nazi-Era Newspapers Trigger Row in Germany
BBC News

The word "censored" is splashed across the front page of the current edition of the Zeitungszeugen, or "Newspaper Witnesses". As you flick through the paper, it is pretty thin because the controversial reprints of Nazi-era newspapers have been removed - leaving only some commentaries on them. Ever since the papers hit the news-stands here in Germany in January, there has been a bout of national soul-searching about the country's Nazi past. Jewish groups and commentators have questioned the project's historic value, claiming that the reprints of the Nazi-era newspapers will play into the hands of far-right groups who could use the papers for their own propaganda purposes.
Christians in Jerusalem Want Jews to Stop Spitting on Them
Haaretz (Israel)

A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face. The clergyman prefered not to lodge a complaint with the police and told an acquaintance that he was used to being spat at by Jews. Many Jerusalem clergy have been subjected to abuse of this kind. For the most part, they ignore it but sometimes they cannot.
Jews and the Larger Mass Immigration Issues
DK � The Kvetcher

� In the U.S., Jews and Jewish groups remain an obstacle to change, and are often shrill and reactive to concerned citizens agitating for more restrictive immigration policies and for existing policies to be effectively enforced � What do Jews really mean when we tout the supposed greatness of ever-greater ethnic diversity? What it really means is, �We�re still resentful and fearful of even the faintest whiff of nationalism emanating from whites because we have post-traumatic Holocaust syndrome.� What we also really mean is, �We think increased diversity will make Jews safer.�
U.S. Gangs Swell to One Million Members
USA Today

Criminal gangs in the USA have swelled to an estimated one million members responsible for up to 80 percent of crimes in communities across the nation, according to a gang threat assessment compiled by federal officials. The major findings in a report by the Justice Department's National Gang Intelligence Center, which has not been publicly released, conclude gangs are the "primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs" and several are "capable" of competing with major U.S.-based Mexican drug-trafficking organizations.
Seminary Sacks `Holocaust Denier� Bishop
BBC News

An ultra-traditionalist British bishop who denies the Holocaust has been removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina. A statement by the Society of St Pius X said Bishop Richard Williamson's views "in no way" reflected its position. A row erupted last month after the Pope decided to lift Bishop Williamson's excommunication on an unrelated matter.
Bishop to `Look Again� at Holocaust Evidence
The Associated Press

A bishop who faces a Vatican demand to recant his denial of the Holocaust said he would correct himself if he is satisfied by the evidence, but insisted that examining it "will take time," a German magazine reported. Richard Williamson is one of four bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X whose excommunication was lifted by the Vatican last month. The decision sparked outrage because Williamson had said in a television interview he did not believe any Jews were gassed during the Holocaust. On Wednesday, the Vatican demanded that Williamson recant his denial before he can be admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic Church.
Jews Tell Vatican: `Holocaust Denial� is a Crime
Reuters

World Jewish leaders told Vatican officials that denying the Holocaust was "not an opinion but a crime" when they met on Monday to discuss a bishop they accuse of being anti-Semitic. The meetings, the first since the controversy over Bishop Richard Williamson, who denies the extent of the Holocaust, began last month, took place three days before Pope Benedict is due to address a group of American Jewish leaders. Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast in January: "I believe there were no gas chambers."
Obama and the Oddsmakers
Alexander Cockburn � Counterpunch

� So Wall Street can feel satisfaction that its investment in Obama seems to be paying off. Can the same be said of the Israel lobby which rewarded Obama�s tireless blandishments last year with enthusiastic pre-election endorsements, to the effect that here was a true friend of Israel � As buttress for Avnery�s claim that US �support may be reaching its limits�, we can instance a report on CBS� �60 Minutes�, the most widely watched news show on US television. CBS� reporter Bob Simon�s filmed report of the arrogance and brutality of Israeli soldiers and settlers was, at least in the memory of your CounterPunch editors, the single most savage indictment of Israel ever broadcast on U.S. network television.
British Diplomat Arrested Over 'Anti-Semitic' Rant
The Times (Britain)

Allegations that a senior British diplomat launched into an anti-Semitic rant in a London gym while watching TV footage from Gaza will not upset the "treadmill of diplomacy", the Israeli Ambassador to London said today. In a curiously tongue-in-cheek response to a case that has provoked concern within the Jewish community in Britain, Ron Prosor added that the tirade did not reflect "the health and fitness of our relations". The diplomat, 47-year-old Rowan Laxton, allegedly shouted "f***ing Israelis, f***ing Jews" while watching television reports of the Israeli attack on Gaza last month.
Knut Hamsun Commemorated on Norwegian Coin
The Guardian (Britain)

Knut Hamsun, the Nobel prize-winning Norwegian author who fell from grace for supporting the Nazi occupation of Norway, is to be put on a commemorative coin by his homeland's central bank. The coin is the first to celebrate Hamsun, a Norwegian national hero until his sympathy for the Nazi party emerged � Leif Veggum, a director of Norges Bank, said the coin was being issued "in honour of Hamsun's works, which have had a strong influence on both Norwegian and international literature". Hamsun is best known for his novel Hunger, which is seen as one of the first genuinely modern Norwegian novels �
The Defamation League
Eric Alterman - The Nation

To delve deeply almost anywhere into the arguments over the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is to invite an overload of irony, but let us focus for one moment on a fracas caused by Abe Foxman, national director of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League � Under Foxman, "antidefamation" is not really the ADL's line; defamation is � For the likes of Foxman, any action Israel takes is de facto defensive and solely in the interests of peace, no matter how warlike. He goes so far as to attack Barack Obama's choice of former Senator George Mitchell as the US envoy to the region because -- get this-- Mitchell is "fair" and "meticulously even-handed� �
Vatican Orders Bishop to Recant `Holocaust Denial� Remarks
BBC News

The Vatican has ordered an ultra-traditionalist bishop to publicly recant his views denying the Holocaust. A statement said British Bishop Richard Williamson must "unequivocally" distance himself from his statements to serve in the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican also said that the Pope had not been aware of the bishop's views when he lifted excommunications on him and three other bishops last month. Earlier, a senior cardinal acknowledged the Vatican had mishandled the issue. The Pope's decision, ending Bishop Williamson's excommunication on an unrelated matter, has caused a bitter row �
The Church and Ant-Semitism - Again
Kevin MacDonald � The Occidental Observer

Recently there has been a media uproar about the reinstatement of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a traditionalist Catholic group, that broke off from the Church after the reforms of Vatican II. Jewish groups are furious that there would be any attempt to reconcile these traditionalists to the Church � Within the past year, a priest of the SSPX stated that the Jews were �co-responsible� for the death of Christ. One of the reinstated bishops, Richard Williamson, has questioned standard accounts of the Holocaust. All this raises once again the issue of anti-Semitism and the Church.
Evolution Dispute Still Rages 200 Years After Darwin�s Birth
McClatchy newpapers

Two centuries after Charles Darwin's birth on Feb. 12, 1809, people still argue passionately about his theory of evolution. Was Darwin right? Should schoolchildren be exposed to contrary views in science class? These two controversies continue to rage, partly because both sides are evenly matched. Most scientists and courts that have ruled on the matter say that overwhelming evidence backs Darwin's explanation of the origin and evolution of species, including humans, by natural selection. Many people, especially religious and social conservatives, strongly disagree.
French Cartoonist on Trial for `Anti-Semitism�
The Telegraph (Britain)

A Left-wing cartoonist is to go on trial on Tuesday on charges of anti-Semitism for suggesting Jean Sarkozy, the son of the French president, was converting to Judaism for financial reasons. Maurice Sinet, 80, who works under the pen name Sine, faces charges of "inciting racial hatred" for a column he wrote last July in the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The piece sparked a summer slanging match among the Parisian intelligentsia and ended in his dismissal from the magazine.
In Barcelona, Holocaust Memorial Ceremony Cancelled Over Israel�s Gaza Campaign
Ynet News (Israel)

The Catalunya government [in Spain] has called off the ceremony marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was scheduled to take place on January 27, citing the Israeli offensive in Gaza as the reason � The overwhelming public support for the Palestinians has prompted the government to cancel the Holocaust Remembrance Day service. This was to be the only public event marking the day, and was scheduled to take place in Barcelona's central piazza. �Marking the Jewish Holocaust while a Palestinian Holocaust is taking place is not right,� a local City official told Barcelona�s La Vanguardia.
Israeli Troops Shot and Killed Zoo Animals
Gulf News (Dubai, UAE)

The Gaza Zoo reeks of death � Around every corner, inside almost every cage are dead animals, who have been lying in their cages since the Israeli incursion. Qasim doesn't understand why they chose to destroy his zoo. And it's difficult to disagree with him. Most of them have been shot at point blank range. "The first thing the Israelis did was shoot at the lions - the animals ran out of their cage and into the office building. Actually they hid there."
Italian Traditionalist Priest Questions Gas Chambers
The National Catholic Reporter

In the wake of a global furor triggered by Pope Benedict XVI�s decision to lift the excommunication of four traditionalist Catholic bishops, including one who cast doubt on the Holocaust, another leader in the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X has questioned whether the Nazis used gas chambers for anything other than �disinfection,� and said that people who hold revisionist views on the Holocaust are not anti-Semites. Fr. Floriano Abrahamowicz, a pastor and spokesperson for the Society of St. Pius X in northeastern Italy, also referred to Jews as �a people of deicide� �
Holocaust is a `Big Lie,� Says Iran Spokesman
Agence France Presse

Iran's government spokesman on Tuesday branded the Holocaust a "big lie" created to place the Islamic republic's arch-foe Israel in the Middle East, the state IRNA news agency reported. "The Holocaust is a concept coming from a big lie in order to settle a rootless regime in the heart of the Islamic world," Gholam Hossein Elham told a conference on Gaza in central Iran's religious city of Qom. It was not the first time an Iranian official has questioned the extermination of six millions Jews by the Nazis in World War II.
Calling a Time Out: Withdraw From Afghanistan Too
George McGovern

As you settle into the Oval Office, Mr. President, may I offer a suggestion? Please do not try to put Afghanistan aright with the U.S. military. To send our troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan would be a near-perfect example of going from the frying pan into the fire � The hatred of U.S. policies in the Middle East -- our occupation of Iraq, our backing for repressive regimes such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, our support of Israel -- that drives the terrorist impulse against us would better be resolved by ending our military presence throughout the arc of conflict. This means a prudent, carefully directed withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere.
Prominent German Teachers Condemn Nation�s School System
BBC News

It is a desperate plea for help. Sixty-eight head teachers have written a letter to the authorities in the German capital complaining about the terrible state of their schools. The teachers say they are facing worrying levels of violence, poor behaviour and disruption at schools in Berlin, and they claim that some schools are turning into ghettos for children with immigrant backgrounds. In their letter, the teachers also criticise the authorities for failing to renovate old, dilapidated school buildings.
The American Economy is Not Coming Back
Dave Lindorff � Counterpunch

� The bitter truth, which is that our national economy will never �bounce back� to where it was in 2007. America, and individual Americans, have been living profligately for years in an unreal economy, propped up by easy credit which inflated the value of real estate to incredible levels, and which led people to spend way beyond their means � Over the last 20 years, America has degenerated into a nation of consumers, with 72 percent of Gross Domestic Product (sic) now being accounted for by consumer spending � most of it going for things that are produced overseas and shipped here. That is not an economic model that is sustainable, and it is a model that has just suffered what is certainly a mortal blow.
Israel�s Lies
Henry Siegman -- London Review of Books

� Middle East peacemaking has been smothered in deceptive euphemisms, so let me state bluntly that each of these claims is a lie. Israel, not Hamas, violated the truce: Hamas undertook to stop firing rockets into Israel; in return, Israel was to ease its throttlehold on Gaza. In fact, during the truce, it tightened it further. This was confirmed not only by every neutral international observer and NGO on the scene, but by Brigadier General (Res.) Shmuel Zakai, a former commander of the IDF�s Gaza Division � In other words, when Jews target and kill innocent civilians to advance their national struggle, they are patriots. When their adversaries do so, they are terrorists.
Israel Prime Minister�s Boast Provokes Diplomatic Furor
Forward (New York)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert didn�t do anything wrong � but he should have kept his mouth shut. That was the reaction of several Jewish leaders to Olmert�s public boast January 11. He said he left Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice �shamed� by getting President Bush to block her at the last moment from voting for a Gaza cease-fire resolution that she herself had hammered out over several days with Arab and European diplomats at the United Nations. Olmert bragged of having pulled Bush off a stage during a speech when he called on the phone and demanded the president�s intervention.
EPA a Failure on Chemicals, Audit Finds
The Journal-Sentinel (Milwaukee)

The Environmental Protection Agency's ability to assess toxic chemicals is as broken as the nation's financial markets and needs a total overhaul, a congressional audit has found. The Government Accountability Office has released a report saying the EPA lacks even basic information to say whether chemicals pose substantial health risks to the public. It says actions are needed to streamline and increase the transparency of the EPA's registry of chemicals. And it calls for measures to enhance the agency's ability to obtain health and safety information from the chemical industry.
Ethnic Identity Gives Teens Daily Happiness Boost
Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, N. Carolina)

Ethnic pride can help teenagers maintain happiness when faced with stress, according to a new study by a Wake Forest University psychologist published in the October issue of Child Development. Adolescents with positive feelings toward their ethnic group say they are happier on a daily basis than those who have a more negative attitude about their ethnic identity, said Lisa Kiang, assistant professor of psychology at Wake Forest and lead author of the study. The study, involving 415 ninth-graders from Chinese and Mexican backgrounds, shows the protective effects of ethnic identity on daily psychological well-being, Kiang said.
Israel To Shield Its Troops From War Crimes Indictments
Reuters

International calls to investigate Israel over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip prompted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday to promise military personnel state protection from foreign prosecution. "The commanders and soldiers sent to Gaza should know they are safe from various tribunals and Israel will assist them on this front and defend them, just as they protected us with their bodies during the Gaza operation," Olmert said. Last week, the military censor ordered local and foreign media in Israel to blur the faces of army commanders in photos and video footage of the Gaza war for fear they could be identified and arrested while travelling abroad.
U.S. Professors Are Now Calling for Boycott of Israel
Haaretz (Israel)

In the wake of �Operation Cast Lead� [Israel�s recent Gaza campaign], a group of American university professors has for the first time launched a national campaign calling for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. While Israeli academics have grown used to such news from Great Britain, where anti-Israel groups several times attempted to establish academic boycotts, the formation of the United States movement marks the first time that a national academic boycott movement has come out of America.
International Court Considers Prosecution of Israelis for War Crimes
The Times (Britain)

The International Criminal Court is exploring ways to prosecute Israeli commanders over alleged war crimes in Gaza. The alleged crimes include the use of deadly white phosphorus in densely populated civilian areas, as revealed in an investigation by The Times last month. Israel initially denied using the controversial weapon, which causes horrific burns, but was forced later, in the face of mounting evidence, to admit to having deployed it.
German Chancellor Joins Papal Holocaust Row
BBC News

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the Vatican's clarifications over the readmission of a bishop who queries the Holocaust do not go far enough. "In my opinion these clarifications are not yet sufficient," Mrs Merkel said. A row erupted last month after Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, who had said no Nazi gas chambers existed. Pope Benedict has distanced himself from those beliefs and expressed "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews. "This should not be allowed to pass without consequences," Mrs Merkel said at a news conference in Berlin.
Iran�s President Rebukes Western Ban on Open Holocaust Research
Press TV (Iran)

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Western countries have blocked research on the Holocaust to achieve their political objectives. "Western countries have prevented any kind of research on the Holocaust for almost 60 years to maintain their dominance over other nations," President Ahmadinejad said in a written message to a conference on the Holocaust on Tuesday. The Holocaust - as defined by the West - has been used as a tool for countries including the US to prevent the emergence of any other power in the world, the message added.
Iran�s President Calls for Open Review of Holocaust History
The Middle East Media Research Institute (Washington DC)

� The illegitimate Zionist regime is an outcome of the Holocaust [said Iranian President Ahmadinejad] � Sadly, for 60 years they allowed no one to question and cast doubt on the logic of the Holocaust and its very essence - because if the truth were to be exposed, nothing would remain of their logic of liberal democracy. It is the very advocates of liberal democracy who defend the Holocaust, who have sanctified it to the point where none may enter. Breaking the padlock of the Holocaust and reexamining it will be tantamount to cutting the vital arteries of the Zionist regime. It will destroy the philosophical foundation and raison d'�tre of this regime.
Bergen-Belsen Camp: The Suppressed Story
Mark Weber

� On April 15, 1945, British troops liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The anniversary was widely remembered in official ceremonies and in newspaper articles that, as the following essay shows, distort the camp's true history � Ghastly images recorded by Allied photographers at Belsen in mid-April 1945 and widely reproduced ever since have greatly contributed to the camp's reputation as a notorious extermination center. In fact, the dead of Bergen-Belsen were, above all, unfortunate victims of war and its turmoil, not deliberate policy.
A Serious Saudi Warning to the US
Financial Times (Britain) -- Editorial

Anyone with a stake in the stability of the wider Middle East should take very seriously the warning set forth in the Financial Times last Friday by Prince Turki al-Faisal. Prince Turki, a man who expresses himself with care and moderation, was recently the Saudi ambassador to the UK and the US and, before that, the long-serving chief of Saudi intelligence � Prince Turki, citing equally forthright remarks by King Abdullah and Prince Saud, is now telling the new administration of Barack Obama it can either change course radically on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or forfeit the US "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia.
Jews Do Wield Immense Power and Influence
Sentletse Diakanyo � Mail & Guardian (South Africa)

In 2002 Mark Weber, a director of The Institute for Historical Review wrote an article about the powerful Jewish Lobby in the United States. What Weber articulates in his article is very relevant to the current brouhaha about the alleged comments made by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fatima Hajaig. As a result of those alleged comments, the Deputy Minister has now been vilified and accused of anti-Semitism, hate speech, bigotry and all manner of things that are intended to whip up the emotions of the Jewish community and social activists and inflate her comments beyond what they truly represented. In his article Weber beautifully outlines how Jewish money influences and controls the US Congress.
'Jewish Money' Controls U.S., Says South African Diplomat
Agence France Presse

South Africa�s deputy foreign minister has been taken before the national human rights body for allegedly saying that "Jewish money" controls the United States, officials said Thursday. Fatima Hajaig allegedly told a political rally two weeks ago in Johannesburg that Jews "control America, no matter which government comes into power, whether Republican or Democratic, whether Barack Obama or George Bush." "Their control of America, just like the control of most western countries, is in the hands of Jewish money," she allegedly said.
A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby
Mark Weber

� Jews wield immense power and influence in the United States. The "Jewish lobby" is a decisive factor in US support for Israel. Jewish-Zionist interests are not identical to American interests. In fact, they often conflict. As long as the "very powerful" Jewish lobby remains entrenched, there will be no end to the systematic Jewish distortion of current affairs and history, the Jewish-Zionist domination of the U.S. political system, Zionist oppression of Palestinians, the bloody conflict between Jews and non-Jews in the Middle East, and the Israeli threat to peace.
President Obama: More of the Same?
David Cronin -- Inter Press Service

� Obama has been careful to ally himself with the hugely powerful Israel lobby in his country. He has appointed Rahm Emanuel, an unwavering supporter of Israel, as his chief of staff. Emanuel's father Benjamin belonged to the Irgun, a militant Zionist organisation that carried out the massacre of up to 120 Palestinians at Deir Yassin, a village near Jerusalem, in 1948. Hilary Clinton, the new secretary of state, also has close ties to the Israel lobby.
Is It Time to Bail Out of America?
Paul Craig Roberts

� All the Obama regime sees is a �credit problem.� But the crisis goes far beyond banks� bad investments. The United States is busted. Many of the state governments are busted. Homeowners are busted. Consumers are busted. Jobs are busted. Companies are busted � How can President Obama even think about fighting wars half way around the world while California cannot pay its bills, while Americans are being turned out of their homes, while, as Business Week reports, retirees will work throughout their retirement (which assumes that there will be jobs), while careers are being destroyed and stores and factories shuttered.
Bishop Apologizes to Pope for `Holocaust Denial� Remarks
The Associated Press

A bishop recently rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret Friday to the pontiff for the "distress and problems" he caused by denying the Holocaust. In a letter to the Vatican, Bishop Richard Williamson, who recently denied in a TV interview that 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, called his remarks "imprudent." The letter was posted on Williamson's personal blog and addressed to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who has been dealing with the rehabilitation of Williamson and other renegade bishops who had been excommunicated. The Holocaust denial had outraged Jewish groups and many others.
Gaza War Pushes Arabs to the Brink
Robert Dreyfuss � The Nation

Anger is boiling over in the Middle East over Gaza, and -- exactly as I predicted -- the result of the war has been to boost radicalism throughout the region, to strengthen the terrorist-inclined fanatics of Hamas, and to enhance the muscle of terrorist-inclined Israelis, including far-right parties such as Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and, of course, Likud's bombastic Benjamin Netanyahu � So: a top US official says that American embassies were on the verge of being "overrun" by mobs, and a top Saudi official warns that his government is finding it hard to resist a "jihad" along with Iran.
Highest Anti-Semitism Rate in Twenty Years
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

The number of anti-Semitic attacks around the world during Israel's three-week military operation against Hamas in Gaza was up more than 300 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching a two-decade high, according to figures released Sunday by the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism � Over the last two weeks, a Vatican official, a Norwegian foreign ministry official and a British MP have all compared Israel's actions to those of the Nazis. The upswing in virulently anti-Israel Holocaust parallels comes at a time of increasingly global Holocaust education and resources, Holocaust educators say.